The Centre for Internet and Society
https://cis-india.org
These are the search results for the query, showing results 11 to 25.
Reliance-Jio Users Complain Of Porn Websites Being Blocked; Company Yet To Issue Official Statement
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-logical-indian-october-27-2018-reliance-jio-users-complain-of-porn-websites-being-blocked
<b>Going by a lot of Jio network users, it seems that Mukesh Ambani’s Jio has banned hundreds of porn sites, in compliance with the order of the Department of Telecommunications.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The blog post was published by <a class="external-link" href="https://thelogicalindian.com/news/reliance-jio-porn-ban/">Logical Indian</a> on October 27, 2018. Pranesh Prakash was quoted.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">The order came after the Uttarakhand High Court on September 28, 2018, had directed the Centre to block over 850 pornographic websites. Many Jio users have taken to social media to show their protests. On Twitter, several users have threatened even to change their network if Jio doesn’t lift the ban.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">However, the telecom operator has not issued an official statement confirming the ban or on the development so far. The complaints have come to notice after many users pointed out on social media platforms like Reddit and Twitter that several porn websites are no longer available on Jio network, as reported by the <a href="https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/technology/jio-bans-popular-adult-websites-like-pornhub-xvideos-after-dot-order/1361891/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Financial Times</a>.</p>
<h3><b>The High Court’s Order</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">According to <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/uttarakhand-high-court-orders-blocking-porn-sites/">The Indian Express</a>, the Uttarakhand High court’s order came after the alleged gang rape of a 16-year old girl by four students at her boarding school in Dehradun. It is alleged that the accused were “instigated by watching pornography” on their mobile phones before committing the crime.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In the order, the division bench of acting chief, justice Rajiv Sharma and justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari said, “There shall be a direction to all the Internet Service License Holders to punctually obey the notification dated 31st July 2015 and to block the publication or transmission of obscene material in any electronic form.” It further added that material containing sexually explicit act or conduct and also publishing or transmitting of material depicting children in sexually explicit acts should also be blocked.</p>
<h2><b>Same crackdown in 2015</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In 2015, the Department of Telecommunications had issued an order to block 857 porn websites. They had asked all the internet service providers to take compliance with the order and block the websites. A lot of people protested against this crackdown by the government. However, after receiving a huge criticism from the people, the government partially lifted the ban. But, following the rule, nothing had happened, and the porn sites were functioning as before, reported <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/aug/05/india-lifts-ban-on-internet-pornography-after-criticisms" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">An Indian think tank, Centre for Internet and Society member Pranesh Prakash said “It is illegitimate because it is not as though the government has found these websites unlawful … This is a blanket ban, and the government has not thought through the consequences,” reported by The Guardian.</p>
<h2><b>The Logical Indian Take</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Watching or not watching porn is a person’s liberty. India is a democratic nation, and according to our constitution, we are conferred with the freedom of expression and the right to personal liberty. So, this non-confirmed porn ban by Reliance Jio would be getting into the freedom of an individual.</p>
<p>After China, India has the second-largest number of internet users in the world. And, Reliance-Jio is just the third user base in India. The ban would not affect the population much but is definitely a threat to the user rights.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-logical-indian-october-27-2018-reliance-jio-users-complain-of-porn-websites-being-blocked'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-logical-indian-october-27-2018-reliance-jio-users-complain-of-porn-websites-being-blocked</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminInternet GovernanceCensorship2018-10-29T02:35:43ZNews ItemA trust deficit between advertisers and publishers is leading to fake news
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/hindustan-times-sunil-abraham-september-24-2018-a-trust-deficit-between-advertisers-and-publishers-is-leading-to-fake-news
<b>Transparency regulations is need of the hour. And urgently for election and political advertising. What do the ads look like? Who paid for them? Who was the target? How many people saw these advertisements? How many times? Transparency around viral content is also required.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article was published in <a class="external-link" href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/a-trust-deficit-between-advertisers-and-publishers-is-leading-to-fake-news/story-SVNH9ot3KD50XRltbwOyEO.html">Hindustan Times</a> on September 24, 2018.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">Traditionally, we have depended on the private censorship that intermediaries conduct on their platforms. They enforce, with some degree of success, their own community guidelines and terms of services (TOS). Traditionally, these guidelines and TOS have been drafted keeping in mind US laws since historically most intermediaries, including non-profits like Wikimedia Foundation were founded in the US.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Across the world, this private censorship regime was accepted by governments when they enacted intermediary liability laws (in India we have Section 79A of the IT Act). These laws gave intermediaries immunity from liability emerging from third party content about which they have no “actual knowledge” unless they were informed using takedown notices. Intermediaries set up offices in countries like India, complied with some lawful interception requests, and also conducted geo-blocking to comply with local speech regulation.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">For years, the Indian government has been frustrated since policy reforms that it has pursued with the US have yielded little fruit. American policy makers keep citing shortcomings in the Indian justice systems to avoid expediting the MLAT (Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties) process and the signing of an executive agreement under the US Clout Act. This agreement would compel intermediaries to comply with lawful interception and data requests from Indian law enforcement agencies no matter where the data was located.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The data localisation requirement in the draft national data protection law is a result of that frustration. As with the US, a quickly enacted data localisation policy is absolutely non-negotiable when it comes to Indian military, intelligence, law enforcement and e-governance data. For India, it also makes sense in the cases of health and financial data with exceptions under certain circumstances. However, it does not make sense for social media platforms since they, by definition, host international networks of people. Recently an inter ministerial committee recommended that “criminal proceedings against Indian heads of social media giants” also be considered. However, raiding Google’s local servers when a lawful interception request is turned down or arresting Facebook executives will result in retaliatory trade actions from the US.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While the consequences of online recruitment, disinformation in elections and fake news to undermine public order are indeed serious, are there alternatives to such extreme measures for Indian policy makers? Updating intermediary liability law is one place to begin. These social media companies increasingly exercise editorial control, albeit indirectly, via algorithms to claim that they have no “actual knowledge”.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">But they are no longer mere conduits or dumb pipes as they are now publishers who collect payments to promote content. Germany passed a law called NetzDG in 2017 which requires expedited compliance with government takedown orders. Unfortunately, this law does not have sufficient safeguards to prevent overzealous private censorship. India should not repeat this mistake, especially given what the Supreme Court said in the Shreya Singhal judgment.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Transparency regulations are imperative. And they are needed urgently for election and political advertising. What do the ads look like? Who paid for them? Who was the target? How many people saw these advertisements? How many times? Transparency around viral content is also required. Anyone should be able to see all public content that has been shared with more than a certain percentage of the population over a historical timeline for any geographic area. This will prevent algorithmic filter bubbles and echo chambers, and also help public and civil society monitor unconstitutional and hate speech that violates terms of service of these platforms. So far the intermediaries have benefitted from surveillance — watching from above. It is time to subject them to sousveillance — watched by the citizens from below.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Data portability mandates and interoperability mandates will allow competition to enter these monopoly markets. Artificial intelligence regulations for algorithms that significantly impact the global networked public sphere could require – one, a right to an explanation and two, a right to influence automated decision making that influences the consumers experience on the platform.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The real solution lies elsewhere. Google and Facebook are primarily advertising networks. They have successfully managed to destroy the business model for real news and replace it with a business model for fake news by taking away most of the advertising revenues from traditional and new news media companies. They were able to do this because there was a trust deficit between advertisers and publishers. Perhaps this trust deficit could be solved by a commons-based solutions based on free software, open standards and collective action by all Indian new media companies.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/hindustan-times-sunil-abraham-september-24-2018-a-trust-deficit-between-advertisers-and-publishers-is-leading-to-fake-news'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/hindustan-times-sunil-abraham-september-24-2018-a-trust-deficit-between-advertisers-and-publishers-is-leading-to-fake-news</a>
</p>
No publishersunilInternet GovernanceIntermediary LiabilityCensorship2018-10-02T06:44:55ZBlog EntryIndia’s post-truth society
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/hindu-businessline-swaraj-paul-barooah-september-7-2018-indias-post-truth-society
<b>The proliferation of lies and manipulative content supplies an ever-willing state a pretext to step up surveillance.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The op-ed was published in <a class="external-link" href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/deconstructing-the-20-society/article24895705.ece">Hindu Businessline</a> on September 7, 2018.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">After a set of rumours spread over WhatsApp triggered a series of lynchings across the country, the government recently took the interesting step of placing the responsibility for this violence on WhatsApp. This is especially noteworthy because the party in power, as well as many other political parties, have taken to campaigning over social media, including using WhatsApp groups in a major way to spread their agenda and propaganda.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After all, a simple tweet or message could be shared thousands of times and make its way across the country several times, before the next day’s newspaper is out. Nonetheless, while the use of social media has led to a lot of misinformation and deliberately polarising ‘news’, it has also helped contribute to remarkable acts of altruism and community, as seen during the recent Kerala floods.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While the government has taken a seemingly techno-determinist view by placing responsibility on WhatsApp, the duality of very visible uses of social media has led to others viewing WhatsApp and other internet platforms more as a tool, at the mercy of the user. However, as historian Melvin Kranzberg noted, “technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral”. And while the role of political and private parties in spreading polarising views should be rigorously investigated, it is also true that these internet platforms are creating new and sometimes damaging structural changes to how our society functions. A few prominent issues are listed below:</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Fragmentation of public sphere</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Jurgen Habermas, noted sociologist, conceptualised the Public Sphere as being “a network for communicating information and points of view, where the streams of communication are, in the process, filtered and synthesised in such a way that they coalesce into bundles of topically specified public opinions”.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">To a large extent, the traditional gatekeepers of information flow, such as radio, TV and mainstream newspapers, performed functions enabling a public sphere. For example, if a truth-claim about an issue of national relevance was to be made, it would need to get an editor’s approval.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In case there was a counter claim, that too would have to pass an editorial check. Today however, nearly anybody can become a publisher of information online, and if it catches the right ‘influencer’s attention, it could spread far wider and far quicker than it would’ve in traditional media. While this does have the huge positive of giving space to more diverse viewpoints, it also comes with two significant downsides.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">First, that it gives a sense of ‘personal space’ to public speech. An ordinary person would think a few times, do some research, and perhaps practice a speech before giving it before 10,000 people. An ordinary person would also think for perhaps five seconds before putting out a tweet on the very same topic, despite now having a potentially global audience.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Second, by having messages sent directly to your hand-held device, rather than open for anyone to fact-check and counter, there is less transparency and accountability for those who send polarising material and misinformation. How can a mistaken and polarising view be countered, if one doesn’t even know it is being made? And if it can’t be countered, how can its spread by contained?</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">The attention market</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Not only is that earlier conception of public sphere being fragmented, these new networked public spheres are also owned by giant corporations. This means that these public spheres where critical discourse is being shaped and spread, are actually governed by advertisement-financed global conglomerates. In a world of information overflow, and privately owned, ad-financed public spheres, the new unit of currency is attention.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It is in the direct interest of the Facebooks and Googles of the world, to capture user attention as long as possible, regardless of what type of activity that encourages. It goes without saying that neither the ‘mundane and ordinary’, nor the ‘nuanced and detailed’ capture people’s attention nearly as well as the sensational and exciting.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Nearly as addicting, studies show, are the headlines and viewpoints which confirm people’s biases. Fed by algorithms that understand the human desire to ‘fit in’, people are lowered into echo chambers where like-minded people find each other and continually validate each other. When people with extremist views are guided to each other by these algorithms, they not only gather validation, but also now use these platforms to confidently air their views — thus normalising what was earlier considered extreme. Needless to say, internet platforms are becoming richer in the process.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Censorship by obfuscation</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Censorship in the attention economy, no longer requires blocking of views or interrupting the transmission of information. Rather, it is sufficient to drown out relevant information in an ocean of other information. Fact checking news sites face this problem. Regardless of how often they fact-check speeches by politicians, only a minuscule percentage of the original audience comes to know about, much less care about the corrections.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Additionally, repeated attacks (when baseless) on credibility of news sources causes confusion about which sources are trustworthy. In her extremely insightful book “Twitter and Tear Gas”, Prof Zeynep Tufekci rightly points out that rather than traditional censorship, powerful entities today, (often States) focus on overwhelming people with information, producing distractions, and deliberately causing confusion, fear and doubt. Facts, often don’t matter since the goal is not to be right, but to cause enough confusion and doubt to displace narratives that are problematic to these powers.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Viewpoints from members of groups that have been historically oppressed, are especially harangued. And those who are oppressed tend to have less time, energy and emotional resources to continuously deal with online harassment, especially when their identities are known and this harassment can very easily spill over to the physical world.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Conclusion</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Habermas saw the ideal public sphere as one that is free of lies, distortions, manipulations and misinformation. Needless to say, this is a far cry from our reality today, with all of the above available in unhealthy doses. It will take tremendous effort to fix these issues, and it is certainly no longer sufficient for internet platforms to claim they are neutral messengers. Further, whether the systemic changes are understood or not, if they are not addressed, they will continue to create and expand fissures in society, giving the state valid cause for intervening through backdoors, surveillance, and censorship, all actions that states have historically been happy to do!</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/hindu-businessline-swaraj-paul-barooah-september-7-2018-indias-post-truth-society'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/hindu-businessline-swaraj-paul-barooah-september-7-2018-indias-post-truth-society</a>
</p>
No publisherswarajFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet GovernanceCensorship2018-09-12T12:16:31ZBlog EntryAnti-trafficking Bill may lead to censorship
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/livemint-july-24-2018-swaraj-barooah-and-gurshabad-grover-anti-trafficking-bill-may-lead-to-censorship
<b>There are a few problematic provisions in the proposed legislation—it may severely impact freedom of expression.</b>
<p class="S3l" style="text-align: justify; ">The article was published in <a class="external-link" href="https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/GxZ795DUjW3fFrFcWcWp6N/Antitrafficking-Bill-may-lead-to-censorship.html">Livemint</a> on July 24, 2018.</p>
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<p class="S3l" style="text-align: justify; ">The legislative business of the monsoon session of Parliament kicked off on 18 July with the introduction of the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018, in the Lok Sabha. The intention of the Union government is to “make India a leader among South Asian countries to combat trafficking” through the passage of this Bill. Good intentions aside, there are a few problematic provisions in the proposed legislation, which may severely impact freedom of expression.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">For instance, Section 36 of the Bill, which aims to prescribe punishment for the promotion or facilitation of trafficking, proposes a minimum three-year sentence for producing, publishing, broadcasting or distributing any type of material that promotes trafficking or exploitation. An attentive reading of the provision, however, reveals that it has been worded loosely enough to risk criminalizing many unrelated activities as well.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The phrase “any propaganda material that promotes trafficking of person or exploitation of a trafficked person in any manner” has wide amplitude, and many unconnected or even well-intentioned actions can be construed to come within its ambit as the Bill does not define what constitutes “promotion”. For example, in moralistic eyes, any sexual content online could be seen as promoting prurient interests, and thus also promoting trafficking.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Rather than imposing a rigorous standard of actual and direct nexus with the act of trafficking or exploitation, a vaguer standard which includes potentially unprovable causality, including by actors who may be completely unaware of such activity, is imposed. This opens the doors to using this provision for censorship and<b> </b>imposes a chilling effect on any literary or artistic work which may engage with sensitive topics, such as trafficking of women.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In the past, governments have been keen to restrict access to online escort services and pornography. In June 2016, the Union government banned 240 escort sites for obscenity even though it cannot do that under Section 69A or Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, or Section 8 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. In July 2015, the government asked internet service providers (ISPs) to block 857 pornography websites sites on grounds of outraging “morality” and “decency”, but later rescinded the order after widespread criticism. If historical record is any indication, Section 36 in this present Bill will legitimize such acts of censorship.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Section 39 proposes an even weaker standard for criminal acts by proposing that any act of publishing or advertising “which <i>may </i>lead to the trafficking of a person shall be punished” (emphasis added) with imprisonment for 5-10 years. In effect, the provision mandates punishment for vaguely defined actions that may not actually be connected to the trafficking of a person at all. This is in stark contrast to most provisions in criminal law, which require <i>mens rea </i>(intention) along with <i>actus reus </i>(guilty act). The excessive scope of this provision is prone to severe abuse, since without any burden of showing a causal connect, it could be argued that anything “may lead” to the trafficking of a person.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Another by-product of passing the proposed legislation would be a dramatic shift in India’s landscape of intermediary liability laws, i.e., rules which determine the liability of platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, and messaging services like Whatsapp and Signal for hosting or distributing unlawful content.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Provisions in the Bill that criminalize the “publication” and “distribution” of content, ignore that unlike the physical world, modern electronic communication requires third-party intermediaries to store and distribute content. This wording can implicate neutral communication pipeways, such as ISPs, online platforms, mobile messengers, which currently cannot even know of the presence of such material unless they surveil all their users. Under the proposed legislation, the fact that human traffickers used Whatsapp to communicate about their activities could be used to hold the messaging service criminally liable.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">By proposing such, the Bill is in direct conflict with the internationally recognized Manila Principles on Intermediary Liability, and in dissonance with existing principles of Indian law, flowing from the Information Technology Act, 2000, that identify online platforms as “safe harbours” as long as they act as mere conduits. From the perspective of intermediaries, monitoring content is unfeasible, and sometimes technologically impossible as in the case of Whatsapp, which facilitates end-to-end encrypted messaging. And as a 2011 study by the Centre for Internet & Society showed, platforms are happy to over-comply in favour of censorship to escape liability rather than verify actual violations. The proposed changes will invariably lead to a chilling effect on speech on online platforms.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Considering these problematic provisions, it will be a wise move to send the Bill to a select committee in Parliament wherein the relevant stakeholders can engage with the lawmakers to arrive at a revised Bill, hopefully one which prevents human trafficking without threatening the Constitutional right of free speech.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/livemint-july-24-2018-swaraj-barooah-and-gurshabad-grover-anti-trafficking-bill-may-lead-to-censorship'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/livemint-july-24-2018-swaraj-barooah-and-gurshabad-grover-anti-trafficking-bill-may-lead-to-censorship</a>
</p>
No publisherSwaraj Barooah and Gurshabad GroverFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet GovernanceCensorship2018-08-02T13:59:16ZBlog EntryInternet Shutdown Stories
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/internet-shutdown-stories
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) has published a collection of stories of the impact of internet shutdowns on people's lives in the country. This book seeks to give a glimpse into the lives of those directly affected by these internet shutdown experiments. When seen in a larger context, we hope that the stories in this book also demonstrate that access to the internet and freedom of speech is not just about an individual’s rights, but are also required for the collective good. This is a project funded by Facebook and MacArthur Foundation, and the stories were provided by 101 Reporters. Case studies from the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Telangana, West Bengal, Tripura, Manipur, Nagaland, and Uttar Pradesh have been highlighted in this compilation.</b>
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<h4>Read the report here: <a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-shutdown-stories/at_download/file">Download</a> (PDF)</h4>
<p>The report is shared under Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license.</p>
<h4>Edited by Debasmita Haldar, Ambika Tandon, and Swaraj Barooah</h4>
<h4>Print Design by Saumyaa Naidu</h4>
<h4>Advisor: Nikhil Pahwa, Founder and Editor at <a href="https://www.medianama.com/" target="_blank">MediaNama</a></h4>
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<h2>Foreword</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Aside from the waves of innovation that the digital revolution brought with it, the ever increasing pervasiveness of the internet has had a tremendous impact on empowerment and freedoms in society. We are seeing unprecedented levels of access to information, along with a democratization of the means of creation, production and dissemination of information to anyone with an internet connection. This in turn has greatly amplified, and in many cases even created the ability, particularly for those traditionally left in the margins, to more meaningfully participate in their global as well as local societies. Recognising the significance of the internet to the freedom of expression as well as for the development and exercising of human rights more broadly, the United Nations Human Rights Council unanimously passed a resolution confirming internet access being a fundamental human right.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Simultaneously however, we are seeing Indian states discover and experiment with their power to clamp down on these new modes of communication for a variety of reasons, ranging from the ill-intentioned to the ill-informed. An internet shutdown tracker maintained by the Software Freedom Law Centre, shows that the number of shutdowns in India is increasing every year, with 70 shutdowns reported in 2017,and 45 shutdowns already <a class="external-link" href="https://internetshutdowns.in/">reported from 1st Jan, 2018 to 4th May, 2018</a>. These shutdowns also come at a significant economic cost. A 2016 <a class="external-link" href="http://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/intenet-shutdowns-v-3.pdf">Brookings report</a> estimates that India faced a loss of about $968 million due to internet shutdowns. However, the democratic harms we have been accruing are more difficult to quantify and demonstrate.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">This book seeks to give a glimpse into the lives of those directly affected by these internet shutdown experiments. From Jammu and Kashmir to Telangana, from Gujarat to Nagaland, we have collected 30 stories from across the country for an up-close look at how the everyday lives of common citizens have been impacted by internet shutdowns and website blocks. From CRPF members posted in Srinagar who use the internet to connect with their family, to students who have been cut off from education resources for competitive exams; from the disruptions in day to day life brought about by non-functional bank services in Darjeeling, to stock brokers in Ahmedabad who faced costly slowdowns; the idea of a Digital India is facing severe setbacks with these continuously increasing internet shutdowns.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">When seen in a larger context, we hope that the stories in this book also demonstrate that access to the internet and freedom of speech is not just about an individual’s rights, but are also required for the collective good. The diversity of perspectives and activities that a healthy democracy demands is not met by the versioning of dominant narratives, but by allowing for, if not directly encouraging, the voices and activities of the unheard, oppressed and marginalised. We hope that in the telling of these personal stories of the day-to-day of people affected by such internet shutdowns, this book joins in the effort to position the dehumanized internet kill switches more aptly as dangers to democracy.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Sunil Abraham</strong><br />Executive Director<br />The Centre for Internet and Society</p>
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<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/internet-shutdown-stories'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/internet-shutdown-stories</a>
</p>
No publisherambikaFeaturedHomepageInternet GovernanceCensorship2019-09-03T09:57:40ZBlog EntryKashmir: Telecom firms struggle to block 22 banned social media sites
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/livemint-may-4-2017-aijaz-hussain-kashmir-telecom-firms-struggle-to-block-22-banned-social-media-sites
<b>A BSNL official says engineers are still working on shutting down the 22 social media sites but so far had been unable to do so without freezing the Internet across Kashmir.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article by Aijaz Hussain was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.livemint.com/Politics/c7DaWt2HvT6AVJLo5XJV2I/Kashmir-Telecom-firms-struggle-to-block-22-banned-social-me.html">published in Livemint</a> on May 4, 2017. Pranesh Prakash was quoted.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The government has banned 22 social media sites in an effort to calm tensions in parts of the disputed region of Kashmir, after several viral videos depicting the alleged abuse of Kashmiris by Indian law enforcement fuelled protests. But the sites remained online Thursday morning as the local telecom company struggled to block them.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The government said on Wednesday that the restrictions, to be in effect for one month, were necessary for public safety. “It’s being felt that continued misuse of social networking sites and instant messaging services is likely to be detrimental to the interests of peace and tranquillity in the state,” the public order reads.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Pranesh Prakash, policy director for the Indian advocacy group the Centre for Internet and Society, called the ban a “blow to freedom of speech” and “legally unprecedented in India.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">An official with Kashmir’s state-owned telecom company, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), said engineers were still working on shutting down the 22 sites, including Facebook and Twitter, but so far had been unable to do so without freezing the internet across the Himalayan region. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to give technical details of the effort to the media.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Meanwhile, 3G and 4G cellphone service has been suspended for more than a week, but the slower 2G service was still running.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Residents in Srinagar, the region’s main city, were busily downloading documents, software and applications onto their smartphones, which would likely be able to circumvent the social media block once it goes into effect. Many expressed relief to still have internet access Thursday morning.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“It was a welcome surprise,” said Tariq Ahmed, a 24-year-old university student. “It appears they’ve hit a technical glitch to block social media en mass.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While the government has halted internet service in Kashmir in previous attempts to prevent anti-India demonstrations, this is the first time they have done so in response to the circulation of videos and photos showing alleged military abuse.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Others mocked the government. One Facebook post by Kashmiri writer Arif Ayaz Parrey said that the ban showed “the Indian government has decided to take on the collective subversive wisdom of cyberspace humanity.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Kashmiris have been uploading videos and photos of alleged abuse for some years, but several recently posted clips, captured in the days surrounding a violence-plagued local election 9 April, have proven to be especially powerful and have helped to intensify anti-India protests.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">One video shows a stone-throwing teenage boy being shot by a soldier from a few metres (yards) away. Another shows soldiers making a group of young men, held inside an armoured vehicle, shout profanities against Pakistan while a soldier kicks and slaps them with a stick. The video pans to a young boy’s bleeding face as he cries. Yet another clip shows three soldiers holding a teenage boy down with their boots and beating him on his back.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The video that drew the most outrage was of young shawl weaver Farooq Ahmed Dar tied to the hood of an army jeep as it patrolled villages on voting day. A soldier can be heard saying in Hindi over a loudspeaker, “Stone throwers will meet a similar fate,” as residents look on aghast.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/livemint-may-4-2017-aijaz-hussain-kashmir-telecom-firms-struggle-to-block-22-banned-social-media-sites'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/livemint-may-4-2017-aijaz-hussain-kashmir-telecom-firms-struggle-to-block-22-banned-social-media-sites</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaFreedom of Speech and ExpressionSocial MediaInternet GovernanceCensorship2017-05-04T02:29:04ZNews ItemJ&K social media ban: Use of 132-year-old Act can’t stand judicial scrutiny, say experts
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/indian-express-april-28-2017-shruti-dhapola-j-k-social-media-ban
<b>Jammu and Kashmir's social media ban: Legal experts are not convinced this is a viable order</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article by Shruti Dhapola was published in the <a class="external-link" href="http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/jammu-and-kashmir-social-media-ban-use-of-132-year-old-act-cant-stand-judicial-scrutiny-say-experts-4631775/">Indian Express</a> on April 28, 2017. Pranesh Prakash was quoted.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">For residents of Jammu and Kashmir, there’s a blanket ban on social media for the next one month. This means no access to <a href="http://indianexpress.com/about/facebook/">Facebook</a>, WhatsApp, Twitter, Snapchat, <a href="http://indianexpress.com/about/skype/">Skype</a> WeChat, YouTube, Telegram and other social networks.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As The Indian Express reported, this ‘social media ban’ was ordered by the state government after Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti chaired a meeting of the Unified Command Headquarters in Srinagar. The total list includes 22 social media websites, and the order, a copy of which is available with The Indian Express, says this is being done “in the interest of maintenance of public order.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The order to block the sites was issued by RK Goyal, Principal Secretary in the Home department, and cites Section 5 of Indian Telegraph Act, which “confers powers upon the Central government or the state government to take possession of license telegraphs and order stoppage of transmission or interception or detention of messages”.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The order reasons that social media sites are “being used by anti-national and anti-social elements by transmitting inflammatory messages in various forms”. It directs all ISPs to block these websites in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">But questions are already being raised over its legality.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“This is an illegal order because the Telegraph Act and Rules, which the order cites, doesn’t give the government the power to block websites. The Telegraph Act is a colonial-era legislation first passed in 1885 in the aftermath of the Mutiny, making telegraphs a monopoly of the colonial British government, and restricting Indians’ access to communications technologies. In 1996, in the PUCL case, the Supreme Court laid down that powers to intercept or block transmission of messages cannot be exercised without procedural safeguards in place. In 2007, procedural safeguards were made for interception, but not for blocking of telegraphic communications,” points out Pranesh Prakash, Policy Director at Centre for Internet and Society.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Pavan Duggal, senior lawyer specialising in cyberlaw, concurs. “Legally, the order is not viable. This is because the IT Act applies for blocking, under Section 69 (A). Also Section 81 of the IT Act also make it clear that this is a special law, which will prevail over any other older law. The IT ACT deals with everything related to the internet.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The IT ACT notes in Section 1, that “It shall extend to the whole of India and, save as otherwise provided in this Act, it applies also to any offence or contravention there under committed outside India by any person.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">But even blocking under the IT Act isn’t something that can be ordered over night, and the powers for this rest with the central government.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“There’s a provision (69A) in the Information Technology Act which provides for blocking of specific web pages for national security reasons, but only by the Central government. The J&K government, thus can only request the Central government to block. The central government has in the past denied requests by state governments as they were unlawful requests,” Prakash said.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">However, blocking of URLs or in fact complete internet shutdowns is not new in India. “This is an example of Internet manipulation by the governments world over. The first casualty of any disturbance is now the Internet and the government, even the democratic ones living under rule of law have decided that is a-okay to prevent people from communicating in the name of law and order,” said Mishi Choudhary, President and Legal Director at SFLC.in</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">SFLC.in has also been keeping a track of internet shutdowns in India. It has a dedicated website Internetshutdowns.in which crowd-sources information on these bans, and India has already seen seven shut internet shutdowns in first three months of 2017. For instance, in the state of Nagaland internet and mobile services were down for nearly a month from January 30 to February 20.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The issue of url blocking and internet shutdowns inevitably gets linked to one of freedom of speech. While reasonable restrictions can be imposed under Article 19 (2) of the Constitution, experts are not convinced the current order makes enough of a case to justify such a blanket ban.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“The citizens of J&K are Indian citizens and can challenge the order as violative of Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution, violative of right to free speech and expression,” says Choudhary.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“Any kind of blocking must conform to the Constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression, and any blocking must be legally “reasonable” for it to be acceptable as a legitimate restriction under Art.19(2). This blanket ban of 22 arbitrarily chosen service — why block QQ or WeChat, but not <a href="http://indianexpress.com/about/linkedin/">LinkedIn</a> — and that too for a month, cannot be called reasonable under any circumstances,” argues Prakash.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Prakash adds that the order also raises other international concerns for India. “It also violates India’s international legal obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), whose Article 19 protects the freedom of thought, opinion and expression. Only those restrictions that are provided by law, have a legitimate aim, are necessary with less restrictive option being available, and are proportionate to the harm being address are allowed. For instance, targeting of hate speech that is calling for genocide is reasonable. But such blanket bans of communications platforms are not,” he argues.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">So can the citizens challenge such an order, which puts a blanket ban on social networks? The answer is yes, as in this case this order “is legally untenable,” explains Duggal.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On the practice of blocking, he points that in today’s world it can only be seen an antiquated practice. “To give an analogy it is like fixing a leaking roof with a band-aid. It will only increase traffic to the blocked websites, and there are indirect ways to reach these sites via proxies and other tools as well,” he adds.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The orders can always be reviewed by the courts. “While the IT Act allows for blocking, it should be remembered the process is always open to judicial review. Courts have final authority, and they can examine whether the principles of law were applied when passing such a blocking order,” explains Duggal.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The affected social media websites or ISPs don’t yet have a response to this order. When we reached out, Facebook said it did not have an official comment on the ban. Mobile internet service providers Vodafone and Airtel also refused to comment.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/indian-express-april-28-2017-shruti-dhapola-j-k-social-media-ban'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/indian-express-april-28-2017-shruti-dhapola-j-k-social-media-ban</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaFreedom of Speech and ExpressionSocial MediaInternet GovernanceCensorship2017-05-04T02:12:23ZNews ItemNGOs, individuals urge state CMs to curb Internet shutdown
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/times-of-india-april-4-2017-ngos-individuals-urge-state-cms-to-curb-internet-shutdown
<b>Amid rising instances of Internet curbs, a group of individuals and organisations have urged the chief ministers of 12 states to only restrict specific online content rather than resort to complete shutdown.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article was <a class="external-link" href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/ngos-individuals-urge-state-cms-to-curb-internet-shutdown/articleshow/58011598.cms">published in the Times of India</a> on April 4, 2017.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">SFLC.in, a Delhi-based not-for-profit organisation, along with various Internet-related firms have sent letters in this regard to the chief ministers of these states impacted by Internet shutdowns.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The letters have been written to the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, <a class="key_underline" href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Nagaland">Nagaland</a>, Manipur, Maharashtra, J&K, <a class="key_underline" href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Jharkhand">Jharkhand</a>, Rajasthan, Meghalaya, <a class="key_underline" href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Arunachal-Pradesh">Arunachal Pradesh</a>, <a class="key_underline" href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Bihar">Bihar</a>, <a class="key_underline" href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Gujarat">Gujarat</a> and Haryana.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"The Internet shutdowns are imposed using state power under Section 144 by these specific states and not by the Union Government. The central government is bound to follow the process under Section 69 IT act.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"These letters to the chief ministers of all 12 states, which have been affected by Internet shutdowns till date, are an effort by us to address the source of the problem," SFLC.in President and Legal Director Mishi Choudhary told .</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As per Internet Shutdown tracker of SFLC, there have been 28 incidents of Internet closure in Jammu & Kashmir, 9 cases each in Gujarat and Haryana, 8 in Rajasthan, 3 Nagaland, 2 cases each in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Manipur and 1 incident each in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh since 2012.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As per the tracker, far India has experienced a record number of 66 such incidents since 2012, with the number increasing more than two-fold from 14 in 2015 to 31 in 2016.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The letters sent to the chief ministers urge them to "take requisite action that would prohibit the issuance of orders that make Internet services entirely inaccessible for a particular area, and rather recommend that Section 69A and the procedure established by the rules therein be applied to limit the restriction to certain specific online content."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The signatories of the letters include the Centre for Internet and Society, Digital Empowerment Foundation, Internet Democracy Project, IT for Change and Society for Knowledge Commons, individuals like <a class="key_underline" href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Anivar-Aravind">Anivar Aravind</a> (Executive Director, Indic Project), IIT Bombay professor <a class="key_underline" href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Kannan-Moudgalya">Kannan Moudgalya</a> and others.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"We are hopeful that our efforts will make the government take in account the enormous effects of Internet shutdowns on the social-economic condition of our citizens and understand their plight," Choudhary said. PRS MKJ</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/times-of-india-april-4-2017-ngos-individuals-urge-state-cms-to-curb-internet-shutdown'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/times-of-india-april-4-2017-ngos-individuals-urge-state-cms-to-curb-internet-shutdown</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet FreedomInternet GovernanceCensorship2017-04-07T02:43:39ZNews ItemFake News, Rumors & Online Content Regulation
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/fake-news-rumors-online-content-regulation
<b>Medianama and Mint organized #NAMApolicy open house on 'Fake News, Rumors & Online Content Regulation' on February 22, 2017 at the India Habitat Centre. Japreet Grewal and Amber Sinha attended the event.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The discussions broadly covered the impact of Fake News on democratic processes, Legal status of online content regulation in India & administrative challenges with Fake News, Responsibility and accountability of online platforms, while addressing challenges of identification of sources of Fake News, Potential legal and non-legal ways of addressing Fake News, etc.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Agenda</h3>
<ul>
<li>06:30 to 07:00 pm - Registration</li>
<li>07:00 to 07:10 pm - Introductory note</li>
<li>07:10 to 09:00 pm - Round-table discussion moderated by Nikhil Pahwa</li>
<li>09:00 pm onwards - Networking dinner </li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/fake-news-rumors-online-content-regulation'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/fake-news-rumors-online-content-regulation</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet GovernanceCensorship2017-02-28T02:46:13ZNews ItemSuper Cassettes v. MySpace (Redux)
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/super-cassettes-v-myspace
<b>The latest judgment in the matter of Super Cassettes v. MySpace is a landmark and progressive ruling, which strengthens the safe harbor immunity enjoyed by Internet intermediaries in India. It interprets the provisions of the IT Act, 2000 and the Copyright Act, 1957 to restore safe harbor immunity to intermediaries even in the case of copyright claims. It also relieves MySpace from pre-screening user-uploaded content, endeavouring to strike a balance between free speech and censorship. CIS was one of the intervenors in the case, and has been duly acknowledged in the judgment.</b>
<p> </p>
<p>On 23rd December 2016, Justice Ravindra Bhat and Justice Deepa Sharma of the Delhi High Court delivered a decision overturning the 2012 order in the matter of Super Cassettes Industries Limited v. MySpace. The 2012 order was heavily criticized, for it was agnostic to the technological complexities of regulating speech on the Internet and cast unfathomable burdens on MySpace. In the following post I summarise the decision of the Division Bench. Click <a class="external-link" href="http://lobis.nic.in/ddir/dhc/SRB/judgement/24-12-2016/SRB23122016FAOOS5402011.pdf">here</a> to read the judgment.</p>
<h3><strong>Brief Facts</strong></h3>
<p>In 2007, Super Cassettes Industries Limited (SCIL) filed a suit against MySpace, a social networking platform, alleging copyright infringement against MySpace. The platform allowed users to upload and share media files,
<em>inter alia</em>, and it was discovered that users were sharing SCIL’s copyrighted works sans authorisation. SCIL promptly proceeded to file a civil suit against MySpace for primary infringement under section 51(a)(i)
of the Copyright Act as well as secondary infringement under section 51(a)(ii).</p>
<p> The 2012 order was extremely worrisome as it had turned the clock several decades back on concepts of internet intermediary liability. The court had held MySpace liable for copyright infringement despite it having shown no knowledge about specific instances of infringement; that it removed infringing content upon complaints; and that Super Cassettes had failed to submit songs to MySpace's song ID database. The most impractical burden of duty that the court pronounced was that MySpace was required to pre-screen content, rather than relying on post-infringement measures to remove infringing content. This was a result of interpreting due diligence to include pre-screening.</p>
<p>The court injuncted MySpace from permitting any uploads of SCIL's copyrighted content, and directed to expeditiously execute content removal requests. To read CIS' analysis of the Single Judge's interim order, click <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/super-cassettes-v-my-space">here</a>.</p>
<p>In the instant judgment, the bench limited their examination to MySpace’s liability for secondary infringement, and left the direct infringement determination to the Single Judge at the subsequent trial stage. In doing so, the court answered the following three questions:</p>
<h4>1) Whether MySpace could be said to have knowledge of infringement so as to attract liability for
secondary infringement under Section 51(a)(ii)?</h4>
<p>No. According to the Court, in the case of internet intermediaries, section 51(a)(ii) contemplates actual knowledge and not general awareness.</p>
<p>Elaborating re the circumstances of the case, the Court held that to attract liability for secondary infringement, MySpace should have had actual knowledge and not mere awareness of the infringement. Appreciating the difference between virtual and physical worlds, the judgment stated “<em>the nature of internet media is such that the interpretation of knowledge cannot be the same as that is used for a physical premise.”</em></p>
<p>As per the court, the following facts only amounted to a general awareness, which was not sufficient to establish secondary liability:</p>
<ol><li>Existence of user agreement terms which prohibited users from unauthorised uploading of content;<br />
</li><li>Operation of post-infringement mechanisms instituted by MySpace to identify and remove content;<br />
</li><li>SCIL sharing a voluminous catalogue of 100,000 copyrighted songs with MySpace, expecting the latter to monitor and quell any infringement;<br />
</li><li>Modifying videos to insert ads in them: SCIL contended that MySpace invited users to share and upload content which it would use to insert ads and make revenues – and this amounted to knowledge. The Court found that video modification for ad insertion only changed the format of the video and not the content; further, it was a pure automated process and there was no human intervention.</li></ol>
<p>Additionally, no constructive knowledge could be attributed to MySpace to demonstrate reasonable ground for believing that infringement had occurred. A reasonable belief could emerge only after MySpace had perused all the content uploaded and shared on its platform – a task that was impossible to perform due to the voluminous catalogue
handed to it and existing technological limitations.</p>
<p>The Court imposed a duty on SCIL to specify the works in which it owned copyright <em>and </em>being shared
without authorisation on MySpace. It held that merely giving names of all content it owned without expressly pointing out the infringing works was contrary to the established principles of copyright law. Further, MySpace contended and the judge agreed, that in many instances the works were legally shared by distributors and performers – and often users created remixed works which only bore semblance to the title of the copyright work.</p>
<p class="callout"><strong><em>In such cases it becomes even more important for a plaintiff such as
MySpace to provide specific titles, because while an intermediary may
remove the content fearing liability and damages, an authorized
individual’s license and right to fair use will suffer or stand negated.
(Para 38 in decision)</em></strong></p>
<p>Thus, where as MySpace undoubtedly permitted a place of profit for communication of infringing works uploaded by users, it did not have specific knowledge, nor reasonable belief of the infringement.</p>
<h4>2) Does proviso to Section 81 override the "safe harbor" granted to intermediaries under Section 79 of the IT Act, 2000?</h4>
<p>and</p>
<h4>3) Whether it was possible to harmoniously read and interpret Sections 79 and 81 of the IT Act, and Section 51 of the Copyright Act?</h4>
<p>No, the proviso does not override the safe harbor, i.e. the safe harbor
defence cannot be denied to the intermediary in the case of copyright
actions.The three sections have to be read harmoniously, indeed.</p>
<p>
The judgment referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee report as a relevant tool in interpreting the two provisions, declaring that the rights conferred under the IT Act, 2000 are supplementary and not in derogation of the Patents Act or the Copyright Act. The proviso was inserted only to permit copyright owners to demand action
against intermediaries who may themselves post infringing content – the safe harbor only existed for circumstances when content was third party/user generated.</p>
<p class="callout"><strong><em>Given the supplementary nature of the provisions- one where infringement
is defined and traditional copyrights are guaranteed and the other
where digital economy and newer technologies have been kept in mind, the
only logical and harmonious manner to interpret the law would be to read
them together. Not doing so would lead to an undesirable situation
where intermediaries would be held liable irrespective of their due
diligence. (Para 49 in decision)</em></strong></p>
<p>Regarding section 79, the court reiterated that the section only granted a limited immunity to intermediaries by granting a <em>measured privilege to an intermediary</em>, which was in the nature of an affirmative defence and not a blanket immunity to avoid liability. The very purpose of section 79 was to regulate and limit this liability; where as the Copyright Act granted and controlled rights of a copyright owner.</p>
<p>The Court found Judge Whyte’s decision in Religious Technology Centre v. Netcom Online Communication Services (1995), to be particularly relevant to the instant case, and agreed with its observations. To recall, <em>Netcom</em> was the landmark US ruling which established that when a subscriber was responsible for direct infringement, and the service providers did nothing more than setting up and operating tech systems which were
necessary for the functioning of the Internet, it was illogical to impute liability on the service provider.</p>
<h3><strong>On MySpace Complying with Safe Harbor Requirements under Section 79 of the IT Act, 2000 (and Intermediary Rules, 2011)</strong></h3>
<p>The court held that MySpace's operations were in compliance with section 79(2)(b). The content transmission was initiated at the behest of the users, the recipients were not chosen by MySpace, neither was there modification of content. On the issue of modification, the court reasoned that since modification was an automated process (MySpace was inserting ads) which changed the format only, without MySpace's tacit or expressed control or knowledge, it was in compliance of the legislative requirement.</p>
<p class="callout"><strong><em>Despite several safeguard tools and notice and take down regimes,
infringed videos find their way. The remedy here is not to target
intermediaries but to ensure that infringing material is removed in an
orderly and reasonable manner. A further balancing act is required which
is that of freedom of speech and privatized censorship. If an
intermediary is tasked with the responsibility of identifying infringing
content from non-infringing one, it could have a chilling effect on
free speech; an unspecified or incomplete list may do that.
(Para 62 in decision)</em></strong></p>
On the second aspect of due-diligence, the court held that Mypace complied with the due diligence procedure specified in the Rules - it published rules, regulations, privacy policy and user agreement for access of usage. Reading Rule 3(4) with section 79(2)(c), the court held that it due diligence required MySpace to remove content within 36 hours of gaining actual knowledge or receiving knowledge by another person of the infringing content. <strong>If MySpace failed to take infringing content down accordingly, then only will safe harbour be denied to MySpace.</strong>
<p>This liberal interpretation of due diligence is a big win for internet intermediaries in India.</p>
<h3><strong>Additional Issues Considered by the Court</strong></h3>
<p>MySpace also tried to defend its activities by claiming the shield of the fair dealing section of the Indian Copyright Act. However, the Court refused, stating that the fair dealing defence was inapplicable to the case as the provisions protected transient and incidental storage. Whereas, in the instant circumstances, the content in question was stored/hosted permanently.</p>
<p>MySpace also contended that the Single Judge's injunction order was vague and general and had foisted unimplementable duties on MySpace, disregarding the way the Internet functioned. If MySpace had to strictly comply with the order, it would have to shut its business in India. <strong>The Court said that the Single Judge's order, if enforced, would create a system of unwarranted private censorship, running contrary to the principles of a free speech regime, devoid of considerations of peculiarities of the internet intermediary industry. </strong>Private censorship would also invite upon the ISP the legal risk of wrongfully terminating a user account.</p>
<p>Finally, the Court urged MySpace to explore and innovate techniques to protect the interests of traditional copyright holders in a more efficient manner.</p>
<h3><strong>Relief Granted</strong></h3>
<p>Setting aside the Single Judge's order aside, the Court directed SCIL to provide a specific catalogue of infringing works which also pointed to the URL of the files. Upon receiving such specific knowledge, MySpace has been directed to remove the content within 36 hours of the issued notice. MySpace will also keep an account of the removals, and the revenues earned from ads placed for calculating damages at the trial stage.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/super-cassettes-v-myspace'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/super-cassettes-v-myspace</a>
</p>
No publishersinhaIntermediary LiabilityCopyrightCensorshipAccess to Knowledge2017-01-18T14:31:25ZBlog EntryInternet Rights and Wrongs
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/india-today-september-1-2016-pranesh-prakash-internet-rights-and-wrongs
<b>With a rise in PIL's for unwarranted censorship, do we need to step back and inspect if it's about time unreasonable trends are checked?</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article was published in India Today on September 1, 2016. The original piece <a class="external-link" href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/internet-isp-websites-censorship/1/754038.html">can be read here</a>.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Over the last few weeks, there have been a number of cases of egregious censorship of websites in India. Many people started seeing notices that (incorrectly) gave an impression that they may end up in jail if they visited certain websites. However, these notices weren't an isolated phenomenon, nor one that is new. Worryingly, the higher judiciary has been drawn into these questionable moves to block websites as well.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Since 2011, numerous torrent search engines and communities have been blocked by Indian internet service providers (ISPs). Torrent search engines provide the same functionality for torrents that Google provides for websites. Are copyright infringing materials indexed and made searchable by Google? Yes. Do we shut down Google for this reason? No. However, that is precisely what private entertainment companies have done over the past five years in India. Companies hired by the producers of Tamil movies Singham and 3 managed to get video-sharing websites like Vimeo, Dailymotion and numerous torrent search engines blocked even before the movies released, without showing even a single case of copyright infringement existed on any of them. During the FIFA World Cup, Sony even managed to get Google Docs blocked. In some cases, these entertainment companies have abused 'John Doe' orders (generic orders that allow copyright enforcement against unnamed persons) and have asked ISPs to block websites. The ISPs, instead of ignoring such requests as instances of private censorship, have also complied. In other cases (like Sony's FIFA World Cup case), courts have ordered ISPs to block hundreds of websites without any copyright infringement proven against them. High court judges haven't even developed a coherent theory on whether or how Indian law allows them to block websites for alleged copyright infringement. Still they have gone ahead and blocked.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In 2012, hackers got into Reliance Communications servers and released a list of websites blocked by them. The list contained multiple links that sought to connect Satish Seth-a group MD in Reliance ADA Group-to the 2G scam: a clear case of secretive private censorship by RCom. Further, visiting some of the YouTube links which pertained to Satish Seth showed that they had been removed by YouTube due to dubious copyright infringement complaints filed by Reliance BIG Entertainment. Did the department of telecom, whose licences forbid ISPs from engaging in private censorship, take any action against RCom? No. Earlier this year, Tata Sky filed a complaint against YouTube in the Delhi High Court, noting that there were videos on it that taught people how to tweak their set-top boxes to get around the technological locks that Tata Sky had placed. The Delhi HC ordered YouTube "not to host content that violates any law for the time being in force", presuming that the videos in question did in fact violate Indian law. They cite two sections: Section 65A of the Copyright Act and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act. The first explicitly allows a user to break technological locks of the kind that Tata Sky has placed for dozens of reasons (and allows a person to teach others how to engage in such breaking), whereas the second requires finding of "dishonesty" or "fraud" along with "damage to a computer system, etc", and an intention to violate the law-none of which were found. The court effectively blocked videos on YouTube without any finding of illegality, thus once again siding with censorial corporations.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In 2013, Indore-based lawyer Kamlesh Vaswani filed a PIL in the Supreme Court calling for the government to undertake proactive blocking of all online pornography. Normally, a PIL is only admittable under Article 32 of the Constitution, on the basis of a violation of a fundamental right (which are listed in Part III of our Constitution). Vaswani's petition-which I have had the misfortune of having read carefully-does not at any point complain that the state is violating a fundamental right by not blocking pornography. Yet the petition wants to curb the fundamental right to freedom of expression, since the government is by no means in a position to determine what constitutes illegal pornography and what doesn't.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The larger problem extends to the now-discredited censor board (headed by the notorious Pahlaj Nihalani), as also the self-censorship practised on TV by the private Indian Broadcasters Federation (which even bleeps out words and phrases like 'Jesus', 'period', 'breast cancer' and 'beef'). 'Swachh Bharat' should not mean sanitising all media to be unobjectionable to the person with the lowest outrage threshold. So who will file a PIL against excessive censorship?</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/india-today-september-1-2016-pranesh-prakash-internet-rights-and-wrongs'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/india-today-september-1-2016-pranesh-prakash-internet-rights-and-wrongs</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshFreedom of Speech and ExpressionIT ActInternet GovernanceCensorship2016-09-22T23:36:14ZBlog EntryWhy Geospatial Bill is draconian and how it will hurt startups
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/financial-express-prabhu-mallikarjunan-june-13-2016-why-geospatial-bill-is-draconian-and-how-it-will-hurt-startups
<b>Last week, the Indian government rejected Google’s plans to map Indian cities, tourist spots and mountain ranges, using the 360-degree panoramic Google Street View feature.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.financialexpress.com/article/economy/why-geospatial-bill-is-draconian-and-how-it-will-hurt-startups/282623/">published in Indian Express</a> on June 13, 2016</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Last week, the Indian government rejected <a href="http://www.financialexpress.com/tag/google/">Google</a>’s plans to map Indian cities, tourist spots and mountain ranges, using the 360-degree panoramic Google Street View feature. The government officials cited “national security” as a reason for not granting permission to Google. It is expected that the Google’s Street View permission would be relooked at, once the draft Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, 2016, is enforced as law. Many however feel that this draft bill is draconian and will have serious repercussions on the startup ecosystem.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Geospatial Bill seeks to make creating, accessing and distribution or sharing of map related information, illegal and that every company will have to take prior permission and license from the government for the same. Wayback in 2011, Google had announced the introduction of Street View for Bangalore, on Google Maps. But the project ran into trouble with Bangalore Police stopping Street View cars from plying in the city, citing security reasons.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Google Street View, launched in 2007, is popular in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Denver, New York and Miami, which allows users to navigate virtual streets from photographs gathered from directional cameras on special vehicles. While the service has been hugely successful it has caused problems of privacy in some countries.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In 2010 almost 250,000 Germans told Google to blur pictures of their homes on the Street View service, while Czech government also banned Google from taking any new photos for the service. In Switzerland, the matter went to the court and it was accepted that Google would be obliged to pixelate 99% of images to blur faces, vehicle registrations and that it would not be filming certain sensitive places such as schools, prisons and shelter homes.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This adds to the list of recent controversies on Google Earth, and the draft Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, on adoption of mapping technology in India. Commenting on the development, Sumandro Chattapadhyay, research director at the Centre for Internet and Society said, the key country where the Google Street View faced legal challenge, and was fined too, is Germany. This legal challenge, however, was not based on the concern for national security but on that for the privacy of the citizens. However, it was eventually allowed to roll out Street View in Germany provided that it asks for consent from the house owners before images of any house.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“One of the crucial concerns with the draft Geospatial Information Regulation Bill remains its vast scope of application. Not only initiatives like Google Street View may be regulated under it (for capturing geo-referenced imagery from the street level) but absolutely any mobile application that requires the user’s geo-location (either automatically detected, or manually entered by the user) would be within the purview of this Bill. This evidently creates a great pressure upon the entire ICT-enable product and service sector in India,” Chattapadhyay added.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This would mean that, any company, particularly the new age startups, those in the food tech, fintech and e-commerce space, which uses geo-location to identify the customer location to either deliver goods, food products, or the likes of Ola and Uber which uses maps to pickup and drop customers, will have to obtain license from the government.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Raman Shukla, director—strategy and product, Medikoe, said, “At Medikoe we are helping users to locate the nearest healthcare service provider with the available technologies. Google Maps is one of key feature our company banks on. Though we understand the country’s security concerns, the draft bill, if implemented, would be a violation of independent internet. We believe that a much better solution can be identified to solve security concerns.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Venu Kondur, founder of LOBB, the online truck booking platform said, “Geostatial data is a very important data for our business. Customers booking truck through LOBB platform get real-time track & trace facility. Our customers rely heavily on this data for their day-day activity. Startups like us depend largely on maps data for real-time tracking of consignment. Lot of our business intelligence data is drawn out of it.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In case, if the draft gets implemented, many startups will be forced to change the business model and while it will also increase the product delivery time. A group of 15 volunteers created a SaveTheMap.in portal to educate the readers about the draft bill and also give complete information on how the bill have an impact on the citizen and users of certain application. Sajjad Anwar one of the volunteer, said, through the portal about 1700 mails have been sent to the ministry of home affairs airing their view on why they do not support the draft Bill.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Comparing with other countries, Chattapadhyay further said, “At first, other countries deal with the question of display of security establishments in publicly available maps through direct interactions with large mapping companies, and does not turn this into a financial and political burden for the entire economy. Secondly, it is the concern about privacy of the citizens that should frame the Indian government’s response to products and services like Google Street View, and not concerns regarding national security.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>What the draft bill says</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">No person shall, in any manner, make use of, disseminate, publish or distribute any geospatial information of India, outside India, without prior permission from the security vetting authority under the Central government.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Penalty</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Whoever acquires any geospatial information of India in contravention to the rules, shall be punished with a fine ranging from Rs 1 crore to Rs 100 crore and /or imprisonment for a period upto seven years.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Application for license</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Every person who has already acquired any geospatial imagery or data of any part of India either through space or aerial platforms such as satellite, aircrafts, airships, balloons, unmanned aerial vehicles or terrestrial vehicles shall within one year from the commencement of this Act, make an application along with requisite fees to the security vetting authority.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/financial-express-prabhu-mallikarjunan-june-13-2016-why-geospatial-bill-is-draconian-and-how-it-will-hurt-startups'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/financial-express-prabhu-mallikarjunan-june-13-2016-why-geospatial-bill-is-draconian-and-how-it-will-hurt-startups</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet GovernanceCensorship2016-07-02T04:57:35ZNews ItemHere is the entire list of 'escorts service' websites that the government has banned
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/india-today-june-16-2016-here-is-the-entire-list-of-escorts-service-websites-that-govt-has-banned
<b>Another day and another opaque order asking Indian service providers to block websites that allegedly offer or advertise escort services in India. In total, the government has ordered ban on 237 websites. But as it happens whenever the Indian government bans website, there has been no public communication about the same. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article was <a class="external-link" href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/technology/story/govt-blocks-239-indian-escorts-service-websites/1/692381.html">published in India Today</a> on June 16, 2016</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Also, it has not been explained what, if any, process was followed before these websites were banned and what norms were applied for the order that the internet service providers have received.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>However, now Centre for Internet and Society has caught hold of the list of the websites that have been banned. Here is what <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/list-of-blocked-escort-service-websites" target="_blank">the organisation says,</a> "Unfortunately, the government does not make available publicly the list of websites they have ordered ISPs to block. Given that knowledge of what is censored by the government is crucial in a democracy, we are publishing the entire list of blocked websites." </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>As for the websites and URLs here they are:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span>www.sterlingbioscience.com</span></li>
<li><span>rawpoint.biz</span></li>
<li><span>www.onemillionbabes.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaihotcollection.in</span></li>
<li><span>simranoberoi.in</span></li>
<li><span>rubinakapoor.biz</span></li>
<li><span>talita.biz</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescortsagency.net</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaifunclubs.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.alishajain.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.ankitatalwar.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>https://www.jennyarora.ind.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.riya-kapoor.com</span></li>
<li><span>shneha.in</span></li>
<li><span>missinimi.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiglamour.in</span></li>
<li><span>kalyn.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.saumyagiri.co.in/city/mumbai/</span></li>
<li><span>bookerotic.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.divyamalik.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.suhanisharma.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.ruhi.biz</span></li>
<li><span>umbaiqueens.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.aliyaghosh.com</span></li>
<li><span>priyasen.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.highprofilemumbaiescorts.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>charmingmumbai.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.poojamehata.in</span></li>
<li><span>kiiran.in/</span></li>
<li><span>mansikher.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.newmumbaiescorts.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaifunclubs.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.punarbas.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.discreetbabes.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.alisharoy.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.arpitarai.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.nidhipatel.in</span></li>
<li><span>navimumbailescort.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.zoyaescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.juhioberoi.in</span></li>
<li><span>shoniya.in</span></li>
<li><span>panchibora.in</span></li>
<li><span>rehu.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.nehaanand.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.aditiray.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.rakhibajaj.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.alianoidaescorts.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.sobiya.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.alishaparul.in</span></li>
<li><span>mumbai-escorts.leathercurrency.com</span></li>
<li><span>ankita-ahuja.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.yamika.in</span></li>
<li><span>mumbailescort.co</span></li>
<li><span>www.ranjika.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.aditiray.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.alinamumbailescort.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.sonikaa.com/services/</span></li>
<li><span>riyamodel.in</span></li>
<li><span>soonam.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.sejalthakkar.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.yomika-tandon.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.asika.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.siyasharma.org/</span></li>
<li><span>www.rubikamathur.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescortslady.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.sexyshe.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.indepandentescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.saanvichopra.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.goswamipatel.in</span></li>
<li><span>ojaloberoi.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.naincy.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.sonyamehra.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.pinkgrapes.in</span></li>
<li><span>anjalitomar.in/</span></li>
<li><span>www.nishakohli.com/</span></li>
<li><span>sagentia.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>mumbai.vivastreet.co.in/escort+mumbai</span></li>
<li><span>www.deseescortgirls.in</span></li>
<li><span>guides.wonobo.com/mumbai/mumbai-escorts-service/.4299</span></li>
<li><span>jasmineescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.shalinisethi.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.highclassmumbailescort.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.vipescortsinmumbai.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescorts69.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>monikabas.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.riyasehgal.com</span></li>
<li><span>onlycelebrity.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.greatmumbaiescorts.com/escort-service-mumbai.html</span></li>
<li><span>www.aishamumbailescort.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.jennydsouzaescort.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.desifun.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.siyaescort.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>masti-escort.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.sofya.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiwali.in/navi-mumbai-escort-service.php</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiwali.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.calldaina.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescortsservice.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.escortsgirlsinmumbai.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.passionmumbai.escorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.nehakapoor.in</span></li>
<li><span>meerakapoor.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.dianamumbaiescorts.net .in</span></li>
<li><span>www.allmumbailescort.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.rakhiarora.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.ritikasingh.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.rekhapatil.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaidolls.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.piapandey.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaicuteescorts.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescortssevice.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.onlycelebrity.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.meetescortservice.com</span></li>
<li><span>onlyoneescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>simirai.org</span></li>
<li><span>www.riyamumbaiescorts.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.neharana.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaihiprofilegirls.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.sexyescortsmumbai.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.sexymumbai.escorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.four-seasons-escort.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescortsgirl.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.vdreamescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.passionatemumbaiescorts.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.payalmalhotra.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.shrutisinha.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.juliemumbaiescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.indiasexservices.com/mumbai.html</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbai-escorts.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.aliyamumbaiescorts.net.in</span></li>
<li><span>shivaniarora.co.in/escort-service-mumbai.html</span></li>
<li><span>www.pinkisingh.com</span></li>
<li><span>soyam.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.arpitaray.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.localescorts.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.jennifermumbaiescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.yanaroy.com</span></li>
<li><span>escorts18.in/mumbai-escorts.html</span></li>
<li><span>www.tinamumbaiescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaijannatescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.deepikaroy.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.nancy.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.pearlpatel.in</span></li>
<li><span>30minsmumbaiescorts.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.datinghopes.com</span></li>
<li><span>https://www.riyaroy.com/services.html</span></li>
<li><span>www.sonalikajain.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.zainakapoor.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>kavyajain.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.kinnu.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>exmumbai.in/</span></li>
<li><span>www.mansimathur.in/pinkyagarwal</span></li>
<li><span>exmumbai.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.mansimathur.in/pinkyagarwal</span></li>
<li><span>www.devikabatra.in</span></li>
<li><span>katlin.in</span></li>
<li><span>riyaverma.in</span></li>
<li><span>escortsinindia.co/</span></li>
<li><span>www.snehamumbaiescorts.in</span></li>
<li><span>shimi.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescortsforu.com/about</span></li>
<li><span>www.chetnagaur.co.in/chetna-gaur.html</span></li>
<li><span>www.escortspoint.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.rupalikakkar.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.hemangisinha.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>1escorts.in/location/mumbai.html</span></li>
<li><span>www.salini.in/navi-mumbai-independent-escort-service.php</span></li>
<li><span>www.salini.in/navi-mumbai-independent-escort-service.php</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaibella.in</span></li>
<li><span>mohitescortservicesmumbai.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.anchu.in</span></li>
<li><span>www.aliyaroy.co.in</span></li>
<li><span>jaanu.co.in/mumbai-escorts-service-call-girls.html</span></li>
<li><span>www.andyverma.com</span></li>
<li><span>dreams-come-true.biz</span></li>
<li><span>feel-better.biz</span></li>
<li><span>jellyroll.biz</span></li>
<li><span>dreamgirlmumbai.com</span></li>
<li><span>role-play.biz</span></li>
<li><span>mansi-mathur.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.zarinmumbaiescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>mymumbai.escortss.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.goldentouchescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaipassion.biz</span></li>
<li><span>ishitamalhotra.com</span></li>
<li><span>happy-ending.biz</span></li>
<li><span>juicylips.biz</span></li>
<li><span>www.escortsmumbai.name</span></li>
<li><span>www.kirstygbasai.net</span></li>
<li><span>www.hiremumbaiescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.meeraescorts.com/mumbai-escorts.php</span></li>
<li><span>3-5-7star.biz</span></li>
<li><span>www.pranjaltiwari.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.richagupta.biz</span></li>
<li><span>way2heaven.biz</span></li>
<li><span>piya.co/</span></li>
<li><span>pinkflowers.info</span></li>
<li><span>www.beautifulmumbaiescorts.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.bestescortsinmumbai.com/charges-html</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescorts.me</span></li>
<li><span>www.tanikatondon.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.escortsinmumbai.biz</span></li>
<li><span>www.escortgirlmumbai.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaicallgrils.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.quickescort4u.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.mayamalhotra.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.legal-escort.com</span></li>
<li><span>escortsbaba.com/mumbai-escorts.html</span></li>
<li><span>rupa.biz</span></li>
<li><span>www.mumbaiescorts.agency/erotic-service-mumbai.html</span></li>
<li><span>www.escortscelebrity.com</span></li>
<li><span>www.independentescortservicemumbai.com/mumbai%20escort%20servi..</span></li>
<li><span>garimachopra.com</span></li>
<li><span>kajalgupta.biz</span></li>
<li><span>lipkiss.site</span></li>
<li><span>aanu.in</span></li>
<li><span>bombayescort.in</span></li>
<li><span>hotkiran.co.in</span></li>
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<li><span>escortservicemumbai.co.in</span></li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/india-today-june-16-2016-here-is-the-entire-list-of-escorts-service-websites-that-govt-has-banned'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/india-today-june-16-2016-here-is-the-entire-list-of-escorts-service-websites-that-govt-has-banned</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet GovernanceCensorship2016-07-02T04:51:30ZNews ItemISPs start blocking escort websites following govt order
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-moulishree-srivastava-june-14-2016-isps-start-blocking-escort-websites-following-govt-order
<b>DoT on Monday ordered blocking of 240 URLs; blocking of websites takes place under Section 69A of the IT Act, and Information Technology Rules.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span class="p-content"> </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article by Moulishree Srivastava <a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/isps-start-blocking-escort-websites-following-govt-order-116061400376_1.html">was published in the Business Standard</a> on June 14, 2016.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have started blocking websites allegedly offering escort services after an order from the Department of Telecommunication (DoT).<br /> <br /> The DoT on Monday asked ISPs to immediately block around 240 such URLs (Uniform Resource Locator) offering escort services, to filter out obscene content on the internet. Speaking to Business Standard, Internet Service Providers Association of India’s (ISPAI) President Rajesh Chharia said the ISPs were in process of shutting down these websites. ISPAI represents 60 ISPs including Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices, Reliance Communication, Vodafone and Idea Cellular. <br /> <br /> “We received the order yesterday, and it entails a list of about 240 websites that the government wants us to block,” said Chharia. “CERT-In, which works under the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (Deity), advised the department on certain websites that it feels could be a national or social threat. Deity then reached out to DoT, which is our licensor. We are the licensee, and as per the licensing agreement, we have to comply with the order.”<br /> <br /> While declining to comment on whether this is the first such order the association had received this year, Chharia said, “Since last few years, we have been receiving orders to block websites which hosts content that may be a threat to social order or national security.” Blocking of websites takes place under Section 69A of the IT Act, and a 2009 secondary legislation called the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules (“Blocking Rules”).<br /> <br /> The rules empower the central government to direct any agency or intermediary to block access to information when satisfied that it is “necessary or expedient so to do” in the interest of the “sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence relating to above. Intermediaries failing to comply are punishable with fines and prison terms up to seven years.”<br /> <br /> In December 2014, around six months after the Modi-led BJP government came into power, the DoT ordered ISPs to block 32 websites, including Vimeo, Dailymotion, GitHub and Pastebin.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">According to an RTI filed by no-for-profit organisation Software Freedom Law Centre in March last year, Deity said 2341 URLs were blocked in 2014, adding that “barring few numbers, all URLs were blocked on the orders of the Court”.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Another RTI filed by Bangalore based think tank Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) found that 143 URLs were blocked in first three months of 2015 in order to comply with the directions of the competent courts. Later that year, the government attempted to block about 857 porn websites, but it had to revoke the order following the backlash online and offline.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The recent notice named a number of websites that need to be banned, including pinkysingh.com, jasmineescorts.com, onlyoneescorts.com, payalmalhotra.in, localescorts.in, pearlpatel.in, kavyajain.in, xmumbai.in, shimi.in and anchu.in.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">According to Freedom on the Net 2015 report by Freedom House, which termed India as a “partly free” country on the internet, there were 129 operational ISPs in India as of May 2015.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-moulishree-srivastava-june-14-2016-isps-start-blocking-escort-websites-following-govt-order'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-moulishree-srivastava-june-14-2016-isps-start-blocking-escort-websites-following-govt-order</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet GovernanceCensorship2016-07-02T04:17:25ZNews ItemIndian experts doubt government ban on porn sites will be effective
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/zdnet-vl-srinivasan-june-20-2016-indian-experts-doubt-government-ban-on-porn-sites-will-be-effective
<b>The Indian government directed service providers to block 240 websites but doubts have surfaced over the legality of such an order.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.zdnet.com/article/indian-experts-doubt-government-ban-on-porn-sites-will-be-effective/">published in ZDNet</a> on June 20, 2016.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Last year, the Indian government identified more than 850 websites that provided escort services but action has been initiated only with respect to 240 such websites after a Mumbai court issued an order to ban them last week.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">These sites were banned under the provision of Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 -- as their content relate to morality and decency as given in Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India -- on June 13 after a committee of experts in the Indian Home Ministry recommended action against them.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">But experts doubt whether the government can proscribe them in view of a lack of adequate legislation. Jaspreet Grewal, programme officer with the Centre for Internet and Society, said that though the websites offering escort services may potentially be in violation of the law, they cannot be banned under the existing provisions of the IT Act.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Even the government appears to be in a dilemma, as although it notified internet service providers to disable 857 websites on July 31, 2015, it modified the orders four days later, saying that the service providers were free "not to disable" any of the 857 sites if they did not have child pornographic content.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Following an uproar, with netizens lashing out at the government on the social media platforms such as Reddit and Twitter saying that it was trying to impose censorship and also curb freedom of expression, the government decided to rescind its July 31 directives.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>According to a report in Delhi-based English daily </span><em>Hindustan Times</em><span>, Indian Minister for Communication and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad rejected that the present government was a Talibani government, as being said by some of the critics. "Our government supports free media, respects communication on social media, and has respected freedom of communication always," he said.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The minister, while making a statement in Parliament last month, admitted that it was a significant challenge to filter the sites with pornographic content as most of the pornographic sites were hosted outside the country, where viewing pornography is legal.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"These websites keep on changing the names, domain addresses, and hosting platforms from time to time, making it difficult to filter or block such websites using technical tools available in the market," he added.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>The minister also said that the government was asking the service providers regularly to upgrade their infrastructure and technology to effectively address the shortcomings with regard to identifying and blocking encrypted websites. "The government is also in regular touch with social networking sites, having their offices in India, to disable objectionable contents at the source from their websites," he added.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">However, the government seems to be treading cautiously and an indication to this effect was given by a senior official in the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY). "Though a debate is taking place for a long time, the government is now taking a calibrated approach," DeitY Joint Secretary Rajiv Bansal said at an ICANN event held in Delhi on Thursday.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>He also felt that banning the websites was not a solution as new sites were sprouting to replace the blocked ones.</span></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/zdnet-vl-srinivasan-june-20-2016-indian-experts-doubt-government-ban-on-porn-sites-will-be-effective'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/zdnet-vl-srinivasan-june-20-2016-indian-experts-doubt-government-ban-on-porn-sites-will-be-effective</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaInternet GovernanceCensorship2016-07-01T15:00:32ZNews Item